RUSSIA: THE KREMLIN HACKED… BUT WHO WAS THE CULPRIT? THE KREMLIN’S ANSWER: SOMEBODY IN SAN FRANCISCO

This
one was shared by Ms. K.M., and it's a story that I have to pass along
to you, with our usual high octane speculation. The article is a short
one, but it contains one little bit of a bombshell right at the very
end, that makes one wonder: is there a wider context in play?Before we get to that "wider context" however, here's the article:Russia reports 'very powerful' hack of KremlinBefore we get to the high octane speculation, a bit of history might
be in order. During the Reagan administrations, there was a scandal -
still going on according to some investigators, and it is in fact a view
that I share -- involving the INSLAW corporation, its founder, Mr.
William Hamilton, and a piece of sophisticated software his company had
been developing for the Department of Justice, then under the oversight
of Reagan appointee Attorney General Ed Meese. This software, called
PROMIS (PROsecutor's Management Information Software) was allegedly
stolen by the DOJ, and then underwent several modifications at various
CIA fronts, which included the incorporation of backdoors which would
allow anyone installing the software to snoop on the computer networks
it infected. The software itself was a prime plumb for various reasons,
not the least of which was its alleged ability to read any type of database composed in any
type of code. It thus became a prime candidate for other types of
modifications for financial and intelligence purposes. The story goes
that some versions were sold to Israel, which nation's famous Mossad
intelligence service then modified it yet again with more backdoors of
its own, and then leaked the software to rival Arab nations, such as
Egypt and Iraq. Investigative journalist Daniel Casolaro was hired by
Mr. Hamilton to investigate the theft of his software, and Casolaro did
that, and then some, uncovering a huge rogue international network of
spies, drug traffickers, weapons smugglers, and financial fraud that all
had one thing in common: INSLAW's PROMIS software. Casolaro, for his
efforts, was suicided and found in a bathtub in his motel room with
several slashes on both arms, one of many deaths surrounding the INSLAW
case.So where does Russia fit into all of this? During the same time
period that INSLAW's powerful software was being stolen and modified,
the new French government of President Francois Mitterand had a sudden
intelligence windfall: a high-ranking Soviet KGB Colonel with access to
sensitive KGB files offered to spy for France. French
counter-intelligence ran this colonel for years as a French mole within
the KGB until he was eventually discovered, arrested, and eventually
executed for treason by the Soviets, but not before he may have done
significant damage to the entire KGB intelligence apparatus, and more
importantly, significant damage to actual physical infrastructure inside
the Soviet Union. The KGB Colonel, whom the French had codenamed
"FAREWELL," had obtained the KGB's "technology shopping list" of items
it wanted to steal from the West and bring to the Soviet Union, among
which was (you guessed it), computer software.When Presidents Mitterrand and Reagan met for the first time in
Montreal, during a "lull" in the conversations, and when their aides
were conveniently out of earshot, President Mitterrand reportedly
informed President Reagan of the French mole, and as proof of the fact,
provided Reagan with a copy of the KGB's "shopping list." From here, the
story took a definite INSLAW-PROMIS twist, as American intelligence saw
to it that the KGB was able to steal the software - which some, this
author included, assume was some version of PROMIS - which software had
been doctored by the addition of a covert backdoor which allowed the US
access to sensitive Soviet computer networks. A few months later, this
was supposedly used to create a malfunction on a Soviet gas pipeline,
which blew up with such force that the explosion approached the yield of
a small nuclear weapon, and which was visible in space. Thus was put to
rest the notion that France never spies on anyone, and that the USA
never uses its cyber capabilities to physically damage its geopolitical
opponents.In the wake of the disaster and the apprehension of "FAREWELL" by
Soviet counter-intelligence, the result is easily predictable: the
Soviets would have made an extremely careful and thorough review of the
entire operation, and accordingly, devoted increased resources to their
own cyber warfare security and offensive capabilities. We know the
result, as Russian cyber-warfare experts are reputedly some of the
finest in the world.Which brings us at last to today's unusual story, and these statements:

Reuters said the attack targeted the election commission in Russia.

“Defense systems worked though it was not easy,” Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov said, the Hill reported. “The attack was rather strong.”Peskov said Russian authorities haven’t yet determined the source of
the attack, but said it was tied to Sunday’s political elections. That
race only allowed one opposition candidate to run against the
Kremlin-backed politico – a controvsial limit that angered many seeking
fresh faces in the government.“Given that, you will certainly be interested to know that from 5 to
10 a.m. on Sunday a very powerful attack was simultaneously carried out
on the Russian president’s website,” Peskov said.

“Someone tried to hack our website and alter the data
there, making 50,000 requests per minute,” said Russian Central Election
Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov, at the press conference. “They
failed and we have already established the culprit – it’s a company
based in San Francisco.” (Emphases added)

Clearly, the Russian government suspects
the purpose of the attacks was to fix the elections in Russia, and
included attempts to hack the official website of the Office of the
President of the Russian Federation, or, to put it country simple, Mr.
Putin's official website.

For our high octane speculation purposes,
however, we note that the Russians are alleging that the attacks
originated from a corporate source based in San Francisco. Notably, no
corporation is mentioned, nor is any supporting or corroborating
evidence given for the assertion. But assuming this allegation to be
true for the sake of argument, it does raise considerably the stakes and
context of all those mysterious events in the San Francisco Bay area,
from the strange, and quite professionally executed, attack on an
electrical power substation, to the more recent physical attacks on
various internet cable hubs in the region. Connecting all the dots
together, it suggests - and suggests quite strongly - that there's a
real cyber and covert warfare being waged in the region, that Russia is
involved on the receiving (and perhaps giving) end, and that such
reports and incidents might well be parts of a much larger pattern of
such affairs, regardless of when and where they occur. The real question
to be asked is whether or not these most recent attacks on the Russian
systems originated from the USA, or from some other player. The article
ends with the mention of Chinese hacking, but to this author's eye, this
is suspect. The idea that China and Russia would not conduct espionage
against each other is absurd, but so is the idea that they would do so
in such a fashion as to endanger their growing working relationships.
And that suggests, in its turn, that the West, and the USA, gvien the
increased tensions with Russia, are the most likely suspects.And, as
I've said many times: two can play the covert operations game(and its
appears are doing so). If the USA(or anyone else) can attempt to modify
Russian computerized election systems, nothing is to prevent external
modifications to American systems during American elections. Ponder
that, as you ponder which set of corrupt politicians to vote for by
computer in the upcoming (s)election cycle.

This is a story well worth watching, and watching from the standpoint of connecting dots and incidents.